Text formatting in HTML refers to the use of HTML elements and tags to modify the appearance and style of text within a web page. These elements allow developers to apply various styles such as bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, and subscript to the text, enhancing its visual presentation. Here are some commonly used text formatting elements in HTML:
- Bold Text (<b> or <strong>): The <b> and <strong> elements are used to make text bold. While both tags visually render text in bold, the <strong> element is semantically stronger and is typically used to emphasize important content.
Example:
<b>This text is bold</b>
<strong>This text is also bold and semantically important</strong>
- Italic Text (<i> or <em>): The <i> and <em> elements are used to italicize text. Similar to bold text, both tags render text in italics, but the <em> element is semantically emphasized and is used to denote emphasis.
Example:
<i>This text is italicized</i>
<em>This text is also italicized and semantically important</em>
- Underline Text (<u>): The <u> element is used to underline text. It visually decorates the text with a line underneath, indicating emphasis or importance. However, underlined text is less common in modern web design due to its association with hyperlinks.
Example:
<u>This text is underlined</u>
- Strikethrough Text (<s>, <strike>, or <del>): The <s>, <strike>, and <del> elements are used to apply a strikethrough effect to text, indicating that it has been deleted or is no longer relevant. These tags are commonly used in contexts such as revision history or to mark outdated information.
Example:
<s>This text has a strikethrough effect</s>
<strike>This text also has a strikethrough effect</strike>
<del>This text has been deleted</del>
- Superscript Text (<sup>) and Subscript Text (<sub>): The <sup> and <sub> elements are used to render text in superscript and subscript, respectively. Superscript text appears above the baseline, while subscript text appears below the baseline.
Example:
X<sup>2</sup> + Y<sub>2</sub> = Z<sup>3</sup>
These text formatting elements provide developers with flexibility in styling and presenting text content on web pages, allowing for enhanced readability and emphasis of important information.
Paragraph Breaks and Line Breaks
Paragraph breaks and line breaks are used to control the layout and spacing of text within a document.
- Paragraph Breaks (<p>): The <p> element is used to define paragraphs of text. It creates a block-level element that separates text into distinct paragraphs, adding vertical space above and below the paragraph content by default.
Example:
<p>This is the first paragraph.</p>
<p>This is the second paragraph.</p>
- Line Breaks (<br>): The <br> element is used to insert a line break within a block of text. Unlike the <p> element, which creates a new paragraph, <br> only breaks the line of text at the point where it is inserted, without adding additional vertical space.
Example:
<p>This is the first line.<br>This is the second line.</p>
These elements allow developers to structure text content effectively, providing clear separation between paragraphs and controlling the line breaks within blocks of text.